Jacava - Blueberry Muffin (Flaked and Studded)

You may remember the mani I did with Jacava Marrakesh Nights and not long ago, the slanted french tip mani with Jacava Pink Whisper and Candy Floss. Well, today I have another Jacava polish to show you. It's called Blueberry Muffin (love that name) and it's a lilac creme. As with all the Jacava polishes I've tried so far, the formula was amazingly opaque and easy to work with. Jacava is quite pricey but their formulas and consistency won't let you down.

As I've mentioned before, all Jacava polishes are '8 free' (free from DBP, Camphor, Formaldehyde, Toluene, Collophane, Parabens, Phthalates and Animal Ingredients) and of course they are also Cruelty Free.

Oh... and you may be wondering about my nails!!! Yes, for the first time in nearly 3 years, I have rounded them off. I am currently letting them grow almond shaped but because they were super square, I had to file down quite a lot to start rounding the edges in. That is why the tips are still slightly squared off but hopefully they won't take too long to grow!

I then added a coat of Essie Shine Of The Times and some square gold studs from the Born Pretty Store.

You can purchase Jacava directly from their website - http://www.jacava.com/. and they also sell through Feel Unique.

Don't forget to check out their Facebook page for amazing swatches and manis from other girls as well as competitions and promotions.

*The product(s) in this post was provided for review purposes 

Nfu Oh 52

I wish Nfu Oh polishes were more easily available in the UK aside from a single stockist. And slightly cheaper as well. I adore their bottles, their brushes and their formulas.

Today I'm wearing Nfu Oh 52. In fact, I've been wearing it for five days today and there's only a small chip on my thumb.
Although you can't see any purple in there, #52 is actually a purple jelly base chock full of sapphire blue and green shifting flakies. I chose to layer two coats over Miss Sporty Blueberry so it wouldn't look so dark on the nail.

The flakies were really evident and they had such depth to them trapped in that jelly base.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Flakie Flamenco

Earlier this week I was going through my untrieds stash and noticed that I hadn't even swatched this beauty. This is one coat of Hits Speciallita Flamenco from the Mundo De Dancas collection, over a coat of red creme.

Flamenco is a bright red jelly base packed with gold, green and orange flakies. It reminds me of Nfu Oh 59 and Barielle Elle's Spell but brighter. I love flake polishes and don't think I could ever get tired of companies bringing out new flakies. I really enjoyed wearing this colour, it goes well with my skin tone and is also season appropriate. Thank you so much Bia for sending me this :)

Also, why do you think red manicures get the most compliments? I could be wearing the most intricate design and awesome polish on my nails and it doesn't get as many compliments as a basic red manicure!

Thanks for reading :)

Purple Thursday

Today is "purple day"! Lol! Not intentionally of course, I just happen to have swatched two fantastic purple based polishes today and couldn't wait to upload the pictures.

First up is a Cult Nails beauty sent to me by the wonderful Bridget from Luxe Beauty Forever. This is one coat of Seduction, from the Divas and Dramas collection, over Milani Devoted 2 U. It's a purple jelly base polish, packed with copper and blue flakies that shift green! Awesome doesn't begin to describe this flakie. I know I'll be layering this over pretty much anything throughout winter!

The first picture is in direct lamp light and the second was taken with a white sheet partially covering the bulb. The flakies are much more evident in the second picture. That's pretty much how they show irl too!

Secondly, I have another stunner from Polished By KPT. I've posted about Katherine's other creations here and here. Midnight Kiss is a darkened grape purple jelly packed with holographic micro and medium sized round glitters. This is 3 coats on it's own. It sparkles so much, I couldn't stop staring at my nails. Check out Katherine's shop here and her Facebook page here.

Some of the product(s) in this post were provided by the manufacturer or their PR for my honest review.

Hits Speciallita Lambada (Mundo De Dancas Collection)

As mesmerising as OPI DS Magic is on the nail, I couldn't leave it alone. Plus, it's another excuse to tick one more bottle off my untrieds box. I was going to stamp some sort of silver pattern over it but felt a little lazy when I got home today so I just added a coat of Hits Speciallita Lambada from the Mundo De Dancas Collection, and I'm so glad I did. This pretty was sent to me by Bia a while ago and I can't believe it's taken me this long to try it.

Lambada is a gorgeous mix of green, pink and golden flakies in a transparent base. You might be able to see blue and reddish-orange on a different base colour. The pictures under my lamp don't even do it justice and I think my camera freaked out at the shine going on in this mani.
What I like about the Hits Mundo De Dancas flakies is that they go on nice and smooth and I don't have to strategically place the polish like I do with Color Club Covered in Diamonds, for instance.

I can see myself layering Lambada over quite a lot of dark polishes in the Autumn/ Winter.

Mermaid Tail

If you have an Instagram account and follow a lot of the nail accounts, you'll know that there is always a contest going on. Recently, there have been so many that I've lost count and completely missed some of the closing dates. Today's mani - Mermaid inspired - is an entry for my girl Nicole's contest. She is celebrating 10,000 followers and picked this theme because as a child she was obsessed with The Little Mermaid and loves all things Ocean related.

As I'm very freehand challenged, there is no way I could ever draw a mermaid like some of the other entrants did! So I left it to the pros and went for an abstract approach using colours that reminded me of a mermaid's tail.

Other than Essence Choose Me and China Glaze Luxe and Lush, I also used Stargazer 303 for the deeper blue towards the tips and "Lost In Deep Waters" which is a teal franken I made absolutely ages ago. I stamped with BM209 and a very light silver glitter from the 99p store, to create the fish scale look.

Here is my actual entry picture:

I had a little trouble taking pictures of this mani under my lamp! The glare just wouldn't go away and let me show the detailing! My iPhone pictures came out much better in this instance and it's one of those mani's that looks so much better in natural lighting and irl!

Hunger Games Capitol Colors - Fast Track

My second pick from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Colors collection is Fast Track (which corresponds to District 6 Transportation)! I'm a sucker for nude and beige tones although I probably don't wear them as often as I would like. This one is packed with gold flecks which makes it different from all the other neutral tones I have. It doesn't go with my skin tone as much as I would like but I still think it's a very pretty and special polish.

The formula is a little sheer so I would probably wear 3 coats next time (pictures are 2 coats). And since it's quite sheer, I wonder how it would look layered over darker colours?! Maybe it will be similar to CND 24k sparkle!

I stamped with BM223 and Barry M Gold Foil for a subtle look.

Dark Amethyst & Gold Flakies

As I didn't have time to swatch the second colour of the CND The Look for Fall/ Winter 2011 yesterday, as promissed, here it is:

 

Dark Amethyst is a deep purple creme. Very close to plum shade. I like the fact that it's very deep purple but doesn't look nearly black like my OPI Lincoln Park After Dark often does. Formula is perfect as with Midnight Sapphire yesterday.

 

And here it is with one coat of Sheer 24k Sparkle:

Thanks for stopping by :)

Midnight Sapphire & Gold Flakies!

A couple of months ago I went over to the UK distributor for CND and when I saw this little trio on the shelf, I couldn't help myself. This is was the "Look" for Fall/ Winter 2011 (I know I'm a little late...sorry) and it consists of 2 cremes and a new effect:

Today I'll be showing you Midnight Sapphire. It's been a busy day so I haven't had time to swatch both :(

Midnight Sapphire is a deeply pigmented sapphire blue creme. It goes much darker on the nail compared to the bottle colour. Although it's not the first time we see a blue like this, it is still a very pretty shade! You can't go wrong with a deep inky blue. The formula is absolutely amazing but then again I have never had a problem with CND formulas - always opaque in just one coat and very easy and smooth to work with.

 

Once you apply the 24k Sparkle Effect, a gold flakie, it transforms the base colour and gives it that extra sparkle. I really like CND Effects. They can be worn over so many polishes to spruce them up:

 

I couldn't help but mattify it as well. I love my flakies matte:

Thanks for reading and commenting :)